Courage

-60-

Book: Courage
Chapter 60
Word Count: 6279

Layla's eyes betrayed her as she found herself taking a quick glance in Harry's direction. He looked thinner and more miserable than Layla had ever seen him. Apart of her felt bad, but then she remembered her conversation at the end of last year and she frowned, quickly looking away from him.

"You guys done shouting? It's rather annoying."

"'Ello, LayLay," Fred grinned. Layla nodded back in greeting, wanting nothing more than to leave the same room that Harry was in. She only came up so he would know that she was there and that it was her house.

"Your hair," Harry muttered in surprise. It took him a minute to even realise that it was Layla. Not only was her hair different, but her clothes and makeup were bolder than the kind of things she usually wore. She'd grown an inch or two and looked skinnier than usual,  much like Harry.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you talking to me?" snapped Layla without bothering to look in his direction again. Ron and Hermione exchanged awkward glances.

"Sorry," Harry muttered, even though he had no idea what he was apologising for. "What are you doing here?"

"This is my house," said Layla, finally turning to look at Harry.

"Oh," Harry's eyes widened slightly. "It's nice..."

"Mm-hmm," Layla hummed in response, rolling her eyes, before she turned to Fred and George. "It's no-go with the Extendable Ears, your mum has gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door."

"How d'you know?" said George, looking crestfallen.

"Tonks told me how to find out," said Layla. "You just chuck stuff at the door and if it can't make contact, the door's been Imperturbed. I've been flicking Dungbombs at it from the top of the stairs and they just soar away from it, so there's no way the Extendable Ears will be able to get under the gap."

Fred heaved a deep sigh.

"Shame. I really fancied finding out what old Snape's been up to."

"Snape!" said Harry quickly, tearing his eyes away from Layla, whom he'd been staring at miserably. "Is he here?"

"Yeah," said George. "Giving a report. Top secret."

"Git," said Fred idly.

"He's on our side now," said Hermione reprovingly.

Ron snorted, "Doesn't stop him being a git. The way he looks at us when he sees us."

"Bill doesn't like him, either," said Ginny, walking into the room after overhearing the last part of the conversation. She glanced at Harry, but she didn't blush and rush off like she used to. Instead, she smiled at him. "Oh, hello, Harry! I thought I heard your voice."

"At the volume he was yelling, it'd be rather hard not to," Layla muttered to Ginny, causing the redhead to chuckle.

"Is Bill here?" Harry asked. "I thought he was working in Egypt?"

"He applied for a desk job so he could come home and work for the Order," said Fred. "He says he misses the tombs, but," he smirked, "there are compensations."

"What d'you mean?"

"Remember old Fleur Delacour?" said George. "She's got a job at Gringotts to eemprove 'er Eeenglish—"

"And Bill's been giving her a lot of private lessons,' sniggered Fred.

"Don't be mean to her," said Layla with a roll of her eyes. "She's sweet. Fleur has actually been writing to me quite a bit this summer."